All Out of Treats

a Halloween story Project story by Gen-Awesome

It was Halloween Night and all through the town, kids were dressing up in costumes and playing "Trick or Treat" on their neighbours. Much fun was had and much candy given. But there was one house that all the kids avoided. The house on the corner. The Witches House.

Urban Legend said that an old Witch lived in the house on the corner. A Witch that hated kids (boys in particular) and would transform them into animals if they ever crossed her. At least, that's what the Legend said.

Lucas and Danny were brothers. It was their 1st Halloween since moving to the town earlier in the year and they were unaware of the Legend. Lucas was 11 and he was tall and brave, with brown hair and blue eyes. He was dressed as a Superhero. Danny was 9 and by contrast was a bit of a wimp, with blonde hair and blue eyes. He was dressed as a black cat. Lucas had been looking after Danny ever since he was born, pretty much. Danny's cowardly nature meant that he was something of a bully magnet and often got into trouble. That's where Lucas would step in help his little brother out.

Lucas and Danny approached the Corner House. The garden was overgrown and the paint on the walls was chipping and flaking away. Despite the abandoned look of the house, a light was on inside and music could be heard coming from inside. A pair of Jack O'Lanterns sat in front of the door, scared expressions carved into their faces.

"I don't like the look of this house" Danny said, fear on his face "It gives me the creeps, I want to go home".

"Everything scares you" Lucas said confidently. "This is the last house on the street, after this one we'll go home".

"But we already have enough candy" Danny replied "Please, let's go home. Something about this place feels wrong".

"No" Lucas said firmly. "We've gotten candy from every house except this one. I'm Trick or Treating this house, with or without you".

Lucas stood at the gate, ready to go in. "Are you coming or not?" he asked Danny. Danny's fear of the house was far greater than his fear of being left alone, so he shook his head and stood in his spot. "Have it your way" Lucas sighed and entered through the gate and walked down the path to the house.

Danny crouched down and hid behind the fence. His black cat costume was dark enough to make him difficult to see from the house, but he could watch between the fence posts as Lucas walked up the garden path, onto the patio and knocked on the door. For a few tense seconds nothing happened. Then the door opened and a dark figure appeared in the doorway. Danny could only see her silhouette, but he could tell that the figure was a woman.

"Trick or Treat?" Lucas cried out, holding his bag of candy open, expectantly. The figure in the doorway was silent for a few moments, before saying "I'm all out of Treat's I'm afraid. But how about a little trick instead?". Lucas didn't have time to respond before the figure pulled out a long, thin stick and tapped him on the head with it.

Danny watched as Lucas dropped his bag of candy. He doubled over and fell to the ground. His clothes suddenly sucked in and tightly hugged his skin then began to turn green and warty. Lucas began to shrink, his fingers grew long and webbed and a long tongue fell out of his mouth. Lucas tried to call out, but all he could say was "ribbit, RiBBit, RIBBIT"!!! Then as quickly as it began, it was over. Lucas sat on the floor of the patio, transformed into a big, fat Frog.

Lucas tried to hop away, but before he could the figure in the doorway grabbed him and picked him up. She shoved him into his bag of candy, took him inside and closed the door.

Danny knelt outside the house in shock. He'd just watched his older brother get turned into a frog before his eyes. He was frozen in fear. What should he do? Should he call his Parents? Call the Police? Tell them that a Witch turned his brother into a Frog? No, no one would believe that. He was afraid of getting in trouble, afraid of getting caught by the Witch. Afraid of so much. All Danny knew was that his brother Lucas was in trouble and the only person who could help him was Himself. And so, despite being very scared, Danny snuck over to the gate and very slowly opened it.

Danny embodied the very costume he wore. Like a cat, he carefully entered the garden and slowly crept towards the house. Danny didn't want to be heard by the Witch, so he took off his shoes and socks. A trick he'd learned from sneaking downstairs every weekend to watch cartoons in the morning. Once at the side of the house and below a window, Danny carefully rose up and peeked inside. The Witch was sitting inside in an armchair. She was watching TV and eating the Candy from Lucas's bag. A big fat Frog sat in a cage nearby. Danny was sure that was Lucas. The wand sat on a side table near the Armchair, a TV remote sat beside it. The Witch reached over to the side table and grabbed the remote. She pressed a button on the remote and turned the volume on the TV up.

Danny watched the scene in the living room, through the window, for what felt like hours. In reality it must've been 15 minutes. Eventually the Witch got up, turned the TV off and left the room, turning the light off. She left her wand on the side table with the remote. Danny carefully, silently moved to a different window and watched the Witch climb a set of stairs and presumably go to bed.

This was Danny's chance. He crept up to the front door and carefully twisted the door handle. It opened. The Witch must have been so confident in her own safety that she never locked the front door. Danny slowly opened the door and crept inside. He used one of his shoes to keep the front door slightly open. He snuck into the living room and picked up the wand off of the side table. He then slowly crept over to the cage holding Lucas and quietly opened it. "Don't worry Lucas" Danny whispered as quietly as possible "I'm going to turn you back to normal and get you out of here". Danny picked the Frog up and placed it on the floor in front of him. He then raised the Wand and tapped the frog on it's head with it. At first nothing happened, then the Frog sat up, opened it's mouth wide and transformed into clear, glass Jar. Danny was confused, he was so sure that repeating the actions with the wand would turn Lucas back, so he tried again. He tapped the Jar with the wand, a little more forcefully this time and something happened. All of a sudden Danny felt his body getting sucked towards the Jar. He tried to fight it, but his body was refusing to move away from it. He began to panic as his face was sucked closer and closer towards the opening, until finally it was sucked inside. Danny's body shrunk and crushed, squeezing itself awkwardly into the Jar until his whole body was inside. Danny's face was pressed up against the side of the jar. He could smell something awful on either side of his face and was shocked to see both of his bare feet pressed up to his face. A lid began to twist around the top of the jar, sealing Danny inside. The Magic Wand (which had been dropped by Danny when he was sucked inside) hovered and flew around the Jar. It tapped the Jar and magically lifted it into a spot on the bookshelf nearby. Danny looked into a glass jar next to him and was shocked to see Lucas squeezed inside that one. Unlike Danny (who had been squeezed in head first and was therefore upside down), Lucas was the right way up. Danny had fallen into a trap. Lucas had a sad look on his face and began to cry, Danny soon followed.

The next morning the Witch got up and went downstairs. She entered the living room and looked down upon the two boys stuck in magical glass jars. "Hello boys" she said to them with a smile on her face "Are you both comfortable in there? I knew there was another one of you outside my house last night and I was sure you'd try and make a rescue. Guess I was right" she laughed. "Here let me make you both more comfortable". She tapped the jars with her wand and slowly they both came together and merged into one. Now Lucas and Danny were stuck in the same Jar, although their faces were at opposite ends.

"Now, what shall I do with you both?" She mused to herself. "I don't need any new pets or things right now. I know, I'll leave you both here like this and when I think of something I'll let you out. How does that sound?". The two boys just blinked at her in silence. "Great, that's settled. I'll probably think of something in a year or two. Now don't worry. Here in this Jar time will stand still. You won't need food or water or even sleep. You'll just have each other. I've also put you both on Mute, so that your voices don't annoy me. Have Fun!!!" and with that, she walked off.

Lucas and Danny sat in their Jar and waited. They couldn't eat or sleep or even talk to each other. They were stuck together forever and ever and ever. Or at least until the Witch decided what to do to them, however long that would take.

the end